A US court has sentenced Nigerian national Tochukwu Albert Nnebocha to over eight years in prison for masterminding a $6 million inheritance fraud targeting elderly Americans.
According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), 44-year-old Nnebocha ran a seven-year scheme, sending personalised letters to unsuspecting victims claiming they were entitled to multimillion-dollar inheritances from deceased relatives.
Victims were instructed to pay “fees” for taxes, delivery, and other costs before accessing the funds. Over 400 Americans were defrauded.
Nnebocha was arrested in Poland in April 2025, extradited to the US in September, and pleaded guilty in November 2025 to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
The court also ordered three years of supervised release and restitution exceeding $6.8 million.
Investigators from the FBI, Homeland Security, INTERPOL, and Polish authorities assisted in the prosecution, marking it as one of several convictions linked to an international fraud network.
